Putting the Culture back in department name, says Christopher Mitchelmore

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is putting the word "culture" back in the name of the department that manages the portfolio, just a few days after cutting it out.

Last week, the Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development was renamed Tourism, Industry and Innovation.

Minister Christopher Mitchelmore announced Monday the word culture would be put back, effective immediately.

Mitchelmore said the dropping of the word was an unintended consequence of department reorganization.

Mitchelmore told reporters Monday that feedback from the arts and cultural community led to the decision to put culture back in the name of the department.

"The intrinsic value of culture, as it has been in the past, will be reflected in the departmental name," he said.

"Recognizing the overarching value of culture and who it is and who we are as a people, we felt it was adequate and important to reinstate that in the department."

Not just a commodity

Despite the uproar, Mitchelmore said there was no money spent on the name change, such as on printing business cards or other products.

He also addressed concerns from some that the department was wrongly viewing culture as simply a commodity to attract tourism, rather than something that can be appreciated by those living here.

"Tourism has an element of culture and there's a lot of synergies between the two, but culture is an industry — our cultural industries of film, music, TV and publications," he said.

"But our culture is so much more than just cultural industries. It is our identity, it is who we are."